Closet Visit Steph

When I was home for Christmas weekend I visited my friend, Steph's closet. She has made a new year's resolution to stop wearing clothes and to start wearing outfits! Since I fully support this concept (duh) I had a look-see of how she can start achieving that with her current wardrobe.

The closet:

There were ALOT of jeans and tshirts up in this piece. But I immediately found the two blazers in the bunch and we started making outfits:

We put together a New Year's Eve/Dinner Out look.

Then we layered up some of her jewelry. Just like clothes you can also layer bracelets and necklaces (even rings) to add dimensions to your outfit.

Same jeans with a patterned blouse and more fitted blazer for a work outfit. And check out the shoes:

Steph has some great shoes!

Same blazer with different jeans and a blouse layered under a sweater, for another work outfit. We also talked about playing off different lengths. Here we have a tunic sweater with the somewhat cropped blazer, which creates interest and shows that there's thought put into the outfit.

Here we put a multi-chain necklace under the collar of the shirt. I've noticed a lot of ladies will wear shorter necklaces on the skin with collared shirts, but don't be afraid to wear longer/tiered pieces under the collar. Especially if you want to button all the way up.

The details on these shoes create some texture in an all grey look.

Steph had this cropped trench jacket and didn't know how to wear it. We paired it with a cute little dress and strappy heels to play off the proportions of this jacket. This is reminiscent of the '90s, which I love and it also brought around a discussion of how to show off some skin, but still be appropriate. I advised her to also pair this jacket with trouser/flared jeans to emphasis (but not be engulfed by) the Aline cut of the jacket.

I found this super cute summer dress that we "winterized." Taking the blazer of the first look and another grey v-neck sweater we re-purposed this dress for the current season. Especially with the boots (and the fact the dress is lined) she can wear this even when its chilly.

I really dig the how the blazer's cuff lining adds more dimension.

Overall Steph was very pleased with my visit and realized in between the t-shirts and jeans she has some great pieces that she can utilize in 2012. I advised her to take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and just throw her clothes on the bed and start trying pieces on together. Its all about experimentation and not being deterred if things don't work. During this process I suggested playing some fun music and opening a bottle of wine.

Steph also had some great purses and has devised an ingenious way of storing them:

I may have to appropriate this strategy.

We also went online together and I shared with her some of my favorite online retailers and blogs from which I find inspiration. Good Luck Steph for a 2012 of outfits, not just clothes!

If you are interested in having a closet visit (and you live in the Pittsburgh or surrounding area) email me at bernadetteulsamer@gmail.com

40 Year Old Cottagecore

dress-Anthropologie(more options here ), sunnies- DIFF Eyewear , necklace- Benevolence LA , bag-- Shiraleah , sandals- Born I first became aware of Cottagecore earlier this summer and found it to be an aesthetic I can appreciate and find aspirational , but was not necessarily a style that aligned with my wheelhouse. Well as I've been growing my hair during covid quarantine and having picked up this dress as seen here , I felt that I was ready to tackle #cottagecore here on my 40th birthday!!! Yep, that's right today I turn 40 (but I don't look it). And while it's been a year like no other, I feel excited for my next year, decade, chapter of my life. I think it's fair to say I'm done having babies and ready to move on from the chaos of very little children to the chaos of big kids. I no longer feel like I have something to proof in my work, writing, sense of self. I'm just going to enjoy and be grateful for the many blessings of family, friends, health, a...

Rent the Runway to the Rescue

So after the semi-disastrous dress vote from last week I took the stiletto by the heel, aka reserved this Slate & Willow dress from Rent the Runway for the wedding in July. Slate & Willow I had my eye on this as a possible outfit for the Tilda Swinton event I attended last month (fancy I know!) But, ended up going pretty casual since it was just a film screening. An AMAZING screening, but not a dressy affair nonetheless. Anyway, this striped sheath has so many good reviews from a variety of fellow renters in all shapes and sizes, I didn't see one unflattering user pic, so I'm fairly confident this frock will serve my needs come July. And here are some pics of former rentals over the last few years: Nanette Lapore Elie Tahari Elie Tahari Robert Rodriguez Halston Heritage Interesting in renting something for yourself here this summer, use this link , to get $20 off your first rental. You're welcome!

Gift Guide Part 3--Literature

So far I've covered beauty products and socks in this year's round of gift guides, which are prefect gift categories for the coming winter. To add to that list--reading! Here are a few books from my Books Worth Reading Pinterest board, first up--poetry! James Allen Hall's "I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well" from the CSU Poetry Center I LOVED Hall's 1st book Now You're the Enemy , which won awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Lambda Literary Foundation, and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. So this is on my personal wish list to read here during the snowy days to come. Anthology from Mason Jar Press "The Black Ladies Brunch Collective’s Poetry Anthology, Not Without Our Laughter , is a collection of humorous and joyful poems, riffing on Langston Hughes’s novel Not Without Laughter . It explores topics of family, work, love and sexuality. The women of BLBC believe, like Hughes, that even in these ...

Outfits Not Just Clothes

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